The effects of interpersonal performance on females in a simulated selection interview

This experiment was conducted primarily in order to test some hypotheses relating the effects of interpersonal performance style to interpersonal behavior within the selection interview. . Female college students (n = 72) at The University of Tennessee who were categorized as either a "p" (those persons who dislike to role-play) or "R" (those persons who like to role-play) type person according to Goffman's theory of interpersonal performance role-played the part of an interviewer or interviewee. Three hypotheses were tested: (l) Female interviewees who like to role-play will receive more positive mean composite interview scores than those female interviewees who dislike to role-play. (2) Female interviewers-interviewees who dislike to role-play will obtain significantly less positive mean composite interview scores for the interview than will any other combination. (3) Significantly more females who like to role-play will be recommended for employment than females who dislike to role-play. A 2 x 2 factorial design was systematically varied for interpersonal performance styles and an analysis of variance was performed on a composite interview score. The results indicated that the "R" type interviewees, generally, received more positive mean composite interview scores than did "p" type interviewees.

No difference was shown between the way "p" type interviewer rated the two types of interpersonal performance "p" and "R" interviewees, but the "R" type interviewer showed a tendency to rate the "p" type interviewee much less positively than the "R" type interviewee. Recommendations for future research dealing with interpersonal performance styles within the selection interview are discussed.